Birds & Nature Magazine 



The Value of Nature Study 



By CLIFTON F. HODGE 



ON THE side of educational values 

 in building up sound brain tissue 

 and mental power, the school 

 should yield to Nature, "the Old 

 Nurse," so far as possible, the position she 

 has held in the education of the race. Clear- 

 ly, this relation is that of active response in 

 direct, first-hand contact with Nature. 

 Doing something with Nature has ever 

 formed a large factor in education, of which 

 nothing can take the place. This alone, as 

 Froebel sa3^s, can prevent education from 

 becoming hollow and empty, artificial, and 

 a wholly second-hand affair. 



With a distrust in "book larnin' " that 

 has become proverbial, it is strange that it 

 has been allowed to dominate the school 

 curriculum so completely. This danger is 

 not so widely recognized that it is unneces- 

 sary to dwell upon it, and, while some of 

 our best plans of elementary science teach- 

 ing aim to bring Nature and the child into 

 direct contact, much remains to be done by 

 Avay of deciding w^hat to bring to the child 

 and what sort of contact, relation, or asso- 

 ciation it is best to form. Upon these two 

 things depend largely the quality of knowl- 

 edge and texture of mind that education 

 yields to the child. Two important conclu- 

 sions must be borne in mind. These are, 

 first, that quality of knowledge depends 

 upon the ideas with which it is associated 

 In the mind ; and, second, that the strongest 

 associations are related to the spontaneous 

 activities of the individual. That is, for 

 elementary study we must select those 

 things that stand in fundamental asssocia- 

 tions with life and about which the children 

 can find something worth while to do. In 

 connection with it we must lay special 

 stress upon the fact that the highest type of 

 spontaneous, whole-souled activity cannot 

 be developed about trifling or worthless 

 things. "Give children large interests and 

 give them young." This motto of Alice 

 Freeman Palmer may well be used in de- 

 ciding whether a topic should be admitted 

 to the nature study course. Will it form 

 or help to form an important, life-long in- 



terest — an interest not technical or super- 

 ficial, touching life only on the surface, here 

 and there and at long intervals, but one that 

 lies close to the heart, to the home, and 

 to all that makes life worth living. 

 The value of such an interest is 

 inestimable. It may add a sparkle to 

 the eye, elasticity to the step, and a 

 glow to every heart beat, and be the most 

 efficient safeguard against idleness and 

 waste of time, evil, and temptation of every 

 sort. The love of something worthy and 

 ennobling is a passport the world over, for 

 "All the world loves a lover." To find 

 such an interest. To find such an inter- 

 est in some worthy nature-love is to dis- 

 cover the foundation of j^outh. 



Nature is the great mother of such in- 

 terests, and in proportion as education be- 

 comes thus alive and active, nature study 

 must form a prominent factor in the cur- 

 riculum. What is there for the whole child 

 — hands, feet, eyes, ears and brain, mind 

 and soul — to work with actively, except 

 phenomena of nature, responses to which 

 have constituted the chief education of liv- 

 ing forms through all time? Language has 

 grown up out of and around the things of 

 Nature to such an extent that even our 

 common school reading and writing is little 

 more than a hollow mockery without the 

 fundamental nature study to give it life and 

 content; and much of our best literature 

 must fail to be appreciated if Its allusions 

 to nature are not properly sensed. 



But, after all, childhood — active, fresh, 

 spontaneous childhood — and Its need of the 

 normal environment for growth and vigor, 

 supplies the Imperative demand for a nat- 

 ural and active nature study. Truly, 

 "trailing clouds of glory do we come" ; and 

 when we discover the right way, there shall 

 be no "shades of the prison-house" to "close 

 upon the growing boy." In rare cases now 

 w^e find the charm of chlldlikeness, the open 

 interest and rapid growth, extending on 

 through boyhood and to the end of old age. 

 When we learn to educate normally, this 



